Sexing dilemma!

[Bunnymummy91]

So, I bought my first rabbit about 7 months ago, what we were told was a male. A few weeks ago we bought a second rabbit, also male. And they have taken to each other immediately, no fighting, and are good friends from what I can tell. Neither are neutered, and tend to mount each other quite a bit, but only for a few seconds and then they shake the other one off. The older one was behaving strangely a few nights ago, behaviour which I researched and found to be nesting. After a bit of research and some joking with my partner, we’re now panicking he could be female! He has nipples, which a few places have said males do not. He has quite a pronounced dewlap, which I’ve also seen males do not. He’s quite skittish and does not let us turn him over to see the obvious places, but I’m wondering if it sounds like I have a male or female as I don’t have very extensive bunny knowledge! HELP!!! Will be going to the vets for spays/neuters all round ASAP but was wondering if anyone could tell me in the meantime!

[jerseygirl]

It’s a strong possibility your first rabbits is a female just from the fur-pulling. A pregnant rabbit usually will do this right before birthing the kits. However, young inexperienced Does sometime do this early.
Males will sometimes do nesting behaviours but it’s usually a desexed male and usually doesn’t involve fur pulling.

How old is your second rabbit and how long have you had him?

If the original bunny is infact a female, the humping may have triggered a false or pseudo pregnancy.

[Eepster]

Both male and female mammals have nipples, in males they are just sometimes smaller and less noticeable. This is true for all mammals, including humans, bunnies, cats, whales. So, nipples you need to go looking for don’t mean anything, but obvious nipples are a slight indication of female. If the nipples have very recently become much more noticeable, that would also be a sign of pregnancy.

Dwelaps are not unheard of in males, but are much much more common in females. This is especially true if the rabbit is a healthy weight and not over weight.

Combine those things with pregnancy indicators, and female looks pretty likely.

[LBJ10]

Most male mammals have nipples, but there are exceptions to the rule (e.g. mice). Male rabbits do possess nipples, but they are small and hard to see. I agree with the others, there are multiple signs here pointing to female, particularly the dewlap and nesting behavior.

[Bunnymummy91]

Thanks for the help! Took him to the vets this morning and he is, in fact, a SHE!

[LBJ10]

It’s a girl!!!

Oh oh, I hope it’s a false pregnancy then. Are they separated now? What did the vet say?

[Bunnymummy91]

The vet said to keep them seperate. The male is being neutered today so we have to keep them seperate for another three weeks and then if she hasn’t had babies we can get her spayed! Hopefully because we’ve always pulled them apart every time he mounted her she won’t be preggers!

[LBJ10]

Okay, good. I’m glad he’s getting neutered. Did the vet recommend an emergency spay? Or did they think it was too late for that? You said they need to be separate for 3 weeks, but I wasn’t sure if you meant because she may give birth during that time. I just wanted to let you know that boys can still have viable sperm 4 weeks (sometimes a little longer) after the neuter. So if she isn’t spayed yet and (hopefully) not pregnant, they need to stay separate for at least 4 weeks after he is neutered. Even if you push him off of her, it only takes seconds for them to do the deed. So it’s best just to keep them separate.

[Bunnymummy91]

Ah, the vet did say he would only need to be kept away for three weeks. Thank you! They said they could spay her but because the blood vessels around that area are much larger if they are pregnant, it would pose more of a risk to her so we decided against it for now. A spay will be on the cards as soon as possible though!

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